Second Chances
by Triss Kelion
Summary: A dark cemetary, Buffy, and a dead boy.


'It was a dark and stormy night-'

'Shut up, Andrew!'

Buffy was not in a good mood. It was indeed rather stormy and it was by no means a good thing for her shoes. Expensive shoes. She let out a sigh and continued following the muddy trail of the runaway demon. The cemetery wasn't big so hopefully they would get him before her shoes were irreparable.

'We're approaching the oldest part of the cemetery now.' Informed Andrew, 'The hive of scum and villainy-' he cut off the rest noticing the look Buffy was giving him. 'Um, most likely our demon's lair.'

'I don't sense any demons.' Said Buffy. Her voice sounded annoyed and yet not entirely sure. While her Slayer sense wasn't always the greatest (like for instance being unable to pick up Angel being a vampire. She had to roll her eyes at herself for that.) the feeling she was getting now was unlike anything she could remember sensing before.

There wasn't much demonic activity in New York City suburbs. And yet whatever it was she was feeling seemed to be powerful and most definitely not normal.

Her ears were picking up voices somewhere behind the biggest catacomb. Unconsciously she relaxed a little, recognizing the voices as belonging to Dawn and Willow.

'You alright guys?' asked Buffy causing Dawn to jump up in fright and turn around with an annoyed look.

'Make some noise!'

'I just did'. Said Buffy. She shared a little conspiratory smile with Willow, which dropped a little when she got a good look at what was lying at Willow's feet.

'And the Wicked Witch has slayed the demon.' Announced Andrew.

'Bummer.' The Slayer said with a pout, 'I was hoping for some Slayage.'

Silently she surveyed the scene. The demon was very clearly dead (and in parts) but the weird tingly feeling was not subsiding. In fact, it seemed to be getting stronger. Hyper aware she noticed Willow's eyes darting to the shadows, her hands fidgeting.

Catching the witch's eye, she said, 'Something's weird.'

'What do you mean?' asked Andrew.

'I've had this weird feeling all night. I can't pinpoint it but it's getting stronger'

'It's a little like ..um,' Willow paused and looked uncertain, 'a little like when Glory opened her portal.'

Dawn shook her head and opened her mouth to say something but then frowned, sighed. 'It seemed familiar. I was hoping it was just my imagination.'

'Are we talking about the blood magic part or opening dimension portals part?' Asked Andrew, 'We're in a cemetery, so it's most likely blood magic. It doesn't seem to be the best place for dimension ripping. Good for blood magic though.' He seemed to be talking to himself, 'I wouldn't go about dimension ripping in a cemetery.'

'Glory needed a specific place.' Reminded Dawn. 'And preparation. Not something easy to miss.'

She was still uncomfortable with the subject of Glory but she was no longer a scared fourteen year old. A slightly scared sixteen year old who has been bugging Buffy to let her take part in slaying would not back down at slight mention of that ordeal.

'It doesn't feel like blood magic.' Said Willow.

'Dimension thingy on a cemetery?' asked Buffy dubiously. 'On second thought, weirder things had happened.' She gave a shrug and moved to check their surroundings. The tingling was definitely getting stronger to the south.

'Come on guys.' She moved her wet hair out of her face, 'The sooner we find the source the sooner we can get dry and warm.'

They were so engrossed in looking for weird ritualistic set ups/ towers/ suspicious sculptures and the like that they almost missed the hand suddenly piercing out of a grave.

Andrew let out a squeak, being the first one to notice. In one quick move Buffy pushed him away so that his leg was no longer in the grabbing range of the incoming vampire. A newbie wouldn't be much of a challenge but given that the tingling was almost unbearable now she didn't want to chance it getting lucky.

The vamp seemed to be taking its time and Buffy was losing her patience. She grabbed the hand and pulled. The earth gave way. A bleeding teenager stumbled out letting a strangled moan. His eyes were swollen and his face one giant testament to someone having made him a human punching bag.

Buffy cringed a little. Stake in hand she froze. Realization dawned on her. One: there was no tingling anymore, two: he was not a vampire.

'Buffy?' asked Dawn in an uncertain voice, 'How about staking him? Vampire into dust, that sort of thing.' She fell silent, suddenly looking around and frowning, 'It's gone.'

Buffy didn't move, still staring at the boy. He looked to be standing on his own but Buffy knew if she let go he would fall. He had to be have internal injuries.

Puzzled, she took in his funeral clothes and bloodied hands. Her mind provided her an image of her own hands digging the ground, in the dark, in a very very small place, with just barely enough air. It took all of her strength not to start hyperventilating. In a wooden voice she said, 'He's not dead.'

'Right, he's undead.' Said Andrew, thought he too seemed uncertain. A lot of blood was flowing down the boys hands.

'O goddess! He's alive.' Exclaimed Willow. 'Someone has resurrected him. Oh, Buffy. That was that dimension thingy. It was our dimension changing, realigning, someone or something had to .. but I didn't feel magic here, so it was different, something changed so that he was no longer dead.'

'No, not just him. The change was bigger.' Dawn frowned, 'I'm not sure how I know that. I guess there' s still something left of the Key here, ' she said pointing at herself, 'but I'm sure it was more than just him. The barriers between dimensions were weakened.' She looked around confused, 'Weren't we in suburbs?' she mumbled stunned.

Willow looked at her confused, 'What do you mean?'

Dawn looked like she wanted to say something more but one look at Buffy, still unmoving, she directed her attention to the more pressing matters

'Um, Buffy.' Dawn tried gently to wake her sister from her stupor. 'If he's been resurrected than we should contact someone, get him to a hospital, call his family.'

'No.' Buffy didn't raise her eyes from the boy. He seemed semi conscious but remained silent. 'We're here, no one else is here.'

'Oh'. Willow felt the old hurt and guilt wash over her. 'Maybe his family doesn't know he's resurrected.' She said, her voice quiet.

'This is weird.' Said Andrew. Dawn through him a look that plainly said, you're an idiot and mumbled 'No shit Sherlock'.

'I mean', continued Andrew, 'he's not healed, he's still hurt. I just thought it was different than…' he broke off, not wanting to voice what everyone has been thinking but avoiding to say.

'Different than my resurrection.' Buffy finished for him. She seemed to be getting out of her shock and pondering the situation. The differences that Andrew and Willow mentioned: the lack of magic and healing, allowed her to distance herself a little from the situation. It was about the boy now. She gave a little nod and grabbed him in a more comfortable hold, keeping him upright.

'Willow, can you do something about his wounds?'

'I can try, but there's not much I'd be able to do. I've used a lot of my magic to kill the demon, and before that to track it and to heal Xander's wound that the bastard demon left him with…'

'Just… give it a try.' Urged Buffy.

Willow moved towards the teenager and mumbled some Latin words. Her hands started to glow faintly, little wisps of magic arcing towards the boy.

He turned to look just when the light grew brighter. He flinched and moaned quietly.

'Do you think he was hurt with magic?' asked Dawn. The boy couldn't be much older than she was.

She swiveled away, disturbed by the wounds she could see and the dawning realization that there had to be more internal ones, given his state.

She lowered her eyes searching for the grave's markings. Crouching, she inspected the slab of granite. There was a name here and a date but only part of the date was visible. The rest was covered with demon goo. She cringed a little remembering that her and Willow's chase after the demon led right this way, right by this grave. Here was were one of the spells hit it and the goo must have sprayed the grave. She gave a little sight. It was already thick and would not fall off for another couple of days.

'There's goo on his name.' she said and then added, 'Demon goo on the grave and only part of the date is visible. He's been dead for about half a year.'

Willow stepped away from the boy.

'It wasn't magic that killed him. None of his wounds were caused by magic. I helped a little but given my low reserves we should probably get him to a hospital.'

'And soon.' Added Andrew. The teenage boy was swaying, his eyes barely kept open.

Buffy took the boy gently into her arms and they moved towards the car. The trek wasn't very long. This was the oldest and biggest cemetery in the city but luckily they weren't far from the gates. The company was rather subdued. Silently they moved past the oldest, most elaborate catacombs with only the boys heavy breathing to pierce the silence. The place seemed so much darker now. Dawn's anxious gaze kept moving over the graves and landing back on Buffy. How would her sister cope with this? It was hitting a little close to home.

'We're going to a hospital.' Andrew was the first to reach the car and he waited no time in getting Xander up to speed.

'Huh?' answered Xander. 'But I'm not that bad. Willow did her witchy healing and I'm good, spiffy, really-' He paused noticing Buffy coming out from the cemetery.

'Ah. Who's the sleeping beauty?'

Andrew debated with himself what fictional situation to compare it to but this seemed too serious for that.

'He's been resurrected.' He said simply.

"Not by us, right?' asked Xander.

'No! No, of course not. Xander!' Willow, who has just reached the car gave a huff and shot an anxious look Buffy's way. The Slayer was placing the boy in the back seat with his head on Dawn's lap.

'We don't do resurrections. Resurrections are bad. And it wasn't magic, and he's not healed either.' Willow continued.' There wasn't anyone there but us.' She added with a sad look.

'Right . Hospital.' Said Xander, 'Gotham General is around the corner.'

Buffy tried to argue to ride shotgun but Xander pointed out that Andrew took more space than Buffy did and it would be more comfortable for the boy sharing the backseat with the girls. They managed to squeeze everyone in. The boy lying on the girls' knees; Willow keeping her hand on his head and occasionally trickling a little of her magic into his battered body.

'We're not going to mention he was in a grave.' Said Bufffy.

'Why not? They're going to notice the dirt on him.' Reminded Andrew, 'and bad guys sometimes put live people in the graves. Like in that CSI episode-'

'Fine. But we're not going to mention anything that would lead them to his grave.'

At Xander's puzzled look Willow explained,

'The grave is covered in demon goo and we haven't cleaned up the demon body either.'

'And we don't know yet who and why resurrected him.' Added Dawn.

'Who ever did it was very powerful,' Willow let out an excited noise as she thought of something 'or maybe they used some device to do it?'

'Either way, we don't know if it was to hurt him, use him or help him.' Buffy explained. 'Maybe he'll be able to tell us later.'

'If he knows.' Mumbled Dawn her eyes glued to the boys face. She ran her hand in his hair. There was some swelling there. 'He might have a concussion and not remember anything.'

'We found him on the street. Not far from the hospital.' Summarized Willow, 'We'll check on him and on his grave and see what we can find out even without any magical leads. If something is changing our universe what's to say it's just this one thing.'

'Maybe we should let the Justice League know?' asked Andrew. Xander let out a little laugh. It was not the first time they had this conversation.

'Give it up Andrew. Magic and Superman are unmixy things.' Said Xander.

Still looking hopeful Andrew said, 'I wouldn't mind meeting Wonder Woman. She knows about magic, right? Or Zatanna.'

'If they don't' know about Slayers , and everything points to the fact that they don't, we're going to keep it that way. We need to settle the new Council and get the new slayers-.'

'But we're in Gotham!'

Andrew's exclamation was answered with a moan from the boy.

Everyone quieted, exchanging concerned looks.

'We're almost there.' Said Xander.

They halted in front of the Hospital. The boy was quickly taken to an emergency room and the Scoobies thoroughly questioned about the state of the patient. Xander stayed with the car, unwilling to get the medics to see his own bruises and wounds from the night's demon chase. The eye patch would not make a great impression either.

Finally left to their own devices Willow, Dawn and Andrew sat, waiting, in an uneasy silence. Buffy paced.

'He's been beaten, right?' asked Dawn, ' So the police would have to get involved?'

Willow nodded, 'The hospital probably notified the police.'

'Just great.' Said Andrew, 'I hope for once they'll ignore our juvenile records.'

They all knew he was talking about Buffy's record, but the girl was unmoved. There was no way she was leaving that boy behind. She needed to talk to him. Chances were he would suffer the same way she had. She didn't wish that on anyone. She let out a sigh.

'The nurses has already seen me and leaving now would be far more suspicious.'

A doctor came out to talk to them. The boy was in a bad shape but he would live. Unfortunately they feared he might slip into a coma.

There wasn't anything more to say. They could only wait. Willow surveyed the others. Dawn looked a little tired but mostly alright. Worried about Buffy, to be sure. Andrew was fidgeting, eager to leave.. Buffy seemed to be planning to stay and wait for the boy to wake up. Willow sighed. They had things to do, demon body to take care off, before the police decided to check the nearest cemetery.

'We should get the grave cleaned out and start researching the boy, hopefully once we get his name, it'll give us some leads.'

Buffy nodded. She was set on not leaving the hospital anytime soon. Willow locked gazes with Dawn, 'I'll take Andrew and Xander. Let us know if there's some news.'

She scrounged her brows, 'I might be able to work something out about the coma too.'

'If he goes into one.' Reminded Dawn, ' You've been healing him all the way here. That might be enough. We don't want to get anyone suspicious about us.'

Operating in Gotham made them nervous. They've been here twice, and each time it felt as if they were trespassing. There was no hellmouth here, no demon bars that they could find, barely one true magic shop. And, of course, Batman, who was known to be rather territorial.

Willow was very curious about the lack of demonic and magical activity but so far found only residual magical imprints all around the city. It was difficult to channel in their vicinity. The books she and Giles were able to procure regarding this subject mentioned only one slayer ever setting shop in Gotham. She has been a slayer only for a year, but she was said to have taken out an unusually high number of demons in her last stand and the event has been felt all over the continent. Giles hypothesized that whatever it was she did has made the place inhospitable to the average demon.

They didn't have to wait long for the boys in blue to show up.

The police took their initial statements and went to talk with the doctors. Whatever it was they learned from the medical stuff caused them to question the Summers girls for the second time.

'Where did you find him again? 'asked the younger cop.

'On the street, stumbling from around the bushes, just two streets over.' Buffy answered tiredly.

'We told you already.' Said Dawn in her whiniest tone. She was almost having fun playing the tired, spoiled teen. She tried for scared first but the longer it took the more she went for plain old annoying, hoping that the police guys would get a clue.

'Alright, alright. I'd just like to remind you to stay in town and show up at the station tomorrow for the official statement.' Dawn nodded. She was a little worried about how quiet Buffy was. She didn't even play the dumb blond act this time around.

The cops didn't seem to be going anywhere. They stood close by, chatting with one of the nurses. Dawn nudged her sister,

'Come on. We'll get some coffee, our hair in order and some distance from the cops.' Buffy gave a little nod, frowning. Her hair has dried but was nowhere the way Buffy would have wanted it to be. That she didn't care was quite telling.

'Okay. What is it?' asked Dawn.

'I've overheard the cops talking.' Buffy explained after another nudge from Dawn, 'He wasn't just buried. They think he was buried alive. He was also severely beaten with a blunt object. Head trauma and internal bleeding.'

'Oh'.

'And apparently there are signs he was in a fire, or rather, they believe, he was in an explosion.'

'Holy shit!' Said Dawn. 'Do you think that maybe he's that hard to kill so someone had to do it several different ways?'

'No. He's not magical.' Frowned Buffy.

'But maybe meta?'

'They don't think so. His blood work came normal.'

Just then Buffy's phone rang. She checked the caller id, 'Willow.'

The conversation didn't last long.

'And ?' asked Dawn. 'What? Did they get anything? Found someone at the grave?'

Buffy shook her head, 'The Goo is still not falling off on its own but they managed to scrub some bits. They got his name.'

She paused to take a sip of coffee, 'Jason Todd.'


End file.
